Having started their season in ideal fashion with an exceptional performance, the Catalans are high on confidence. Lets discuss three points of emphasis that were evident in Barcelona’s win in their season opener.
1: Lewandowski’s productivity is maximised when his involvement in the build up is minimised
One of the leading stories of this game was Robert Lewandowski’s brace to ensure that Barca were able to fulfill their comeback and walk away with the 3 points.
In the past, it has been observed frequently that the Polish striker can be caught lurking in deep central areas to accommodate Barca’s ball progression. This has proven to become a distraction from his primary purpose of attacking the opposing box through timely runs. Lewandowski’s tendency to drop deep leads to many of Barca’s attacks ending without any fruitful production.
In Barcelona’s win against Valencia, Lewandowski clearly seemed to occupy more advanced spaces and shied away from dropping in deeper areas. He kept attacking the box which is what ultimately led to his equaliser at the end of the first half.
Hopefully, Flick continues to bring out the best goalscoring version of the Bundesliga’s single season goalscoring record holder.
2: Raphinha is not the ideal profile for playing as an Attacking Midfielder
When Flick released his starting 11, almost everyone had an expectation that he would deploy Pablo Torre to occupy the advanced midfield role. However to everyone’s surprise, Raphinha was positioned to start in this unfamiliar role.
Despite Raphinha producing a solid performance where he won the penalty that ultimately led to Barcelona’s win, it would not be unfair to insinuate that the Brazilian International looked out of his depth.
Raphinha is an exceptional wide playmaker, he may not be the most flamboyant winger but is mightily effective at generating an observable output. The Brazilian is used to having the intent to lead an attack the moment he receives the ball.
However when playing in midfield, it is an utmost necessity for one to judge when to reduce the pace of the build up and calm down the tempo of the game. This is something that Raphinha clearly did not have an understanding of which led to him being fairly wasteful.
3: Marc Casado impresses on his Debut as a Professional Footballer
If you are familiar with the names that have gained notoriety from Barca’s academy in recent years, Marc Casado was amongst the top of the list. Often hailed as Barcelona’s answer to replace the irreplaceable figure of Sergio Busquets, Casado had a remarkable debut in Barcelona’s win against Valencia.
Having an impeccable awareness of the tempo of the game while also proving to be an avenue of progression, Casado was able to prove that he was a jack of all trades as he was also Barca’s best individual duel winner due to his frequent involvement in the Catalan’s counter press.
Casado possesses a wide range of passes in his repertoire. During Barcelona’s win, he was seen making a couple of remarkable diagonal passes across the pitch to switch the play towards the more spacious flank.
With a debut this impressive, one can expect Flick to continue featuring the 20 year old in Barca’s starting lineup due to the squad’s struggles with injuries in this department.
